


3301

by teamchaosprez



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hackers, Friends With Benefits, Hacking, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Slow Burn, Trans Male Character, Trans Oma Kokichi, Trans Saihara Shuichi, that tag is gonna go away in like three chapters just watch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-07-07 23:48:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15918720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teamchaosprez/pseuds/teamchaosprez
Summary: Kokichi Ouma runs a massive global organization of hackers, and Shuichi Saihara solves the riddle necessary to join. While Kokichi is fascinated by the detective from the beginning, he can't even begin to predict what will evolve from a simple message.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. i've never used the deep web and i never will so forgive me if anything is inaccurate  
> 2\. i'm a college student that also works part time and has some other fics to work on so if i'm slow that's why

Kokichi woke up in a bed that was not his own.

That wasn’t out of the ordinary. He rarely, if ever, spent the night in his own tiny apartment with noisy neighbors and broken air conditioning and constantly breaking appliances. He had a tendency to drift from place to place, spend a majority of his time in the home of whoever he tried to sleep with… or just sleep on the couch of one of his friends. This time, at least, it was the bed of someone he recognized; his longtime friend (and friend with benefits since just before college), Rantaro Amami, snored peacefully next to him. That was good, it meant he wouldn’t have to find his way back to his apartment in a hurry.

Rantaro was a member of his organization, after all, and that meant he had a decent computer that Kokichi could borrow and at least check on the state of affairs from.

He was a hacker, the ringleader of a worldwide network of online criminals that would use their hacking power to get into all sorts of information, power, just try to change the world from their computers. He was proud of the work he did, but it didn’t pay him well enough to move out of his crappy studio apartment. That was what he was trying to change - he was trying to recruit a new member or two, one that had the ability to go on a chase around the world and potentially help 3301 get success.

He rolled out of the comfortable sheets and covers, and his feet hit carpet. A pang of jealousy ran through him - he had wealthy friends, he had genius level intelligence, he had a worldwide organization of hackers that followed his commands and knew what they were doing. The world was at his fingertips, almost completely in his control; Kokichi held all the power, and none of the money. He wished he could say that he didn’t mind being broke, that it was his organization and his ideals that mattered to him, but honestly, working part time at a fast food restaurant while balancing 3301 was getting difficult. Internet bills had to be paid. Organization members needed some kind of motivation.

Could information make the world go round? In a perfect world, maybe. Information was what made a warm and tingly feeling run from Kokichi’s brain down to his little toesies, was what motivated him to get out of bed every morning, was the reason behind him creating 3301 and turning his hacking hobby into something he spent every waking moment on his laptop doing. Kokichi wanted to  _ learn. _ He wanted to  _ know _ what was going on in the world, every conspiracy, every person’s name and face and IP address (and bank account and credit card numbers).

He snapped his fingers to keep his hands occupied while the computer booted up, already desperate to get typing and get wording and code out. Kokichi wriggled in the desk chair a little, watched with what seemed to be agonizing slowness as the icons on the desktop began loading in. It couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds, but he was annoyed nonetheless. Then he was a little amused about how his laptop, still on his kitchen table at home, was faster than Rantaro’s expensive one.

The short hacker double clicked on the VPN just begging for him to work with it, and felt a familiar jolt of glee and fear at the risk as it opened up. No matter how many times he accessed the deep web, the knowledge that he was doing something illegal was always exciting. As a child, he grew up terrified of breaking the law in such a way, a way that could be tracked with his IP address if he was ever less careful than usual and the FBI got wind that some kid was running a massive organization of hackers that was a pain in the ass to so many politicians and big businesses that it was impossible to count.

It didn’t take him very long to reach the messaging system that Rantaro created specifically for 3301, and he was almost disappointed that there was almost nothing new to see. An update on a project here, a question about getting new recruits there. For a moment, he believed that nobody had solved the most recent riddle to lead them here, and he wondered if he had perhaps made it too hard. Maybe his standards were rising too far above what even the smartest could reach…

A message caught his eye, the text covered in red to announce that it was by somebody not within the ranks of 3301. Kokichi blinked, saw the name displayed -  _ SHUICHI SAIHARA. _ No subject, but the preview of the message suggested that this was from someone who solved the riddle. A small smirk appeared across the hacker’s lips - one person taking the bite was better than nobody, and if this Shuichi person was the first to figure it out? They had to be really smart.

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ I’ve solved the riddle and am messaging you now to let you know. Putting your deep web address out in the open was risky. I respect that. I was wondering what the next step you have for me is. I didn’t want to actually pursue recruitment at first, but my curiosity is peaked. I’m intelligent, and while my programming skills are still developing at best my detective abilities are… well, pretty highly praised, though I don’t think they’re impressive. Thank you. Shuichi Saihara. _

Kokichi clicked his tongue as he read the message again, once, twice, three times. Too serious! Especially for a message sent at… he checked the timestamp… five in the morning. For him, at least, this person may be from a different timezone, and although it wasn’t necessarily obligatory for him to know to recruit somebody he wanted to learn the locations of all his members. One hand ran through his dark plum hair as he hummed thoughtfully before he finally typed a response, significantly less formal than the one he had received. He didn’t have time to worry about things like that.

**_0VW4:_ ** _ thanks for responding to the message!! no need to be so srs when ur messaging me. call me kichi, i run 3301, it’s a worldwide org of hackers. idk about letting someone without good hacking skills in, but if you could figure out the riddle before anyone else im sure you can be of good use to us. i’d like to meet u in person if i can, where are u from? - kichi. _

Much to his surprise, a response came almost immediately, and Kokichi couldn’t help but wonder if Shuichi was just sitting at his computer and waiting for a response to come through. He supposed that might be likely; a bunch of the people who contributed to early riddles and wild goose chases were so excited about everything going on that they only slept a few hours a night. He knew because he’d watched some of the forums about his little recruitment game. It always made him smug.

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ I appreciate it. Your organization is fascinating to me. I’m from Tokyo, Japan, but I’m currently living in New York to study criminal justice and psychology. _

**_0VW4:_ ** _ same. the japan part anyway, i moved to nyc when i was little tho. wanna meet? i wanna see the face of the first person to solve my wittle widdle. _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ Why are you typing in weird baby speak? _

**_0VW4:_ ** _ idk makes me look harmless i guess. _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ I’m fine with meeting up, though. How’s here? I’m free after 4. _

A quick Google of the attached address told Kokichi that Shuichi was trying to meet up with him at a coffee shop, and his first instinct was to tease the new recruit and ask them if they were trying to ask him out on a date, but he decided against it rather quickly.

**_0VW4:_ ** _ how does 5 sound _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ That’ll work, I’ll see you then. _

Kokichi clicked his tongue, and was about to type out another message to make further conversation with Shuichi, but before he could even put his fingers back on the keyboard the sound of footsteps behind him cut him out of his thoughts. The hacker turned around quickly, heart rate spiking and violet eyes widening as adrenaline pumped through him; relief washed over him rather quickly, though, when he realized it was just Rantaro approaching him with a mug of coffee in each hand. He’d been so wrapped up in what he was doing that he forgot he was in his friend’s apartment.

“Hear anything back from the people trying to get recruited?” Rantaro asked, his voice as calm and cool as always as he pulled a kitchen chair up to the desk and put one of the mugs down on the desk next to Kokichi’s hand. The hacker quickly grabbed it and took a swig, wrinkling his nose slightly as the scalding hot liquid hit his tongue and made its way down his throat.

“Yeah, I’m going to meet up with somebody later today. Somebody by the name of Shuichi Saihara solved the riddle. It’s weird, they’re from the same place we are and live in the same town.” Though, he supposed that it wasn’t all that weird - Tokyo and New York City were both very heavily populated areas, after all. Kokichi pushed himself back from the desk, taking care to hold his coffee steady and taking another swig. “I’m kinda fascinated. They got this far to find out more about an organization of hackers, and they aren’t even a programmer. Just a detective or something.”

“Shuichi Saihara?” Rantaro repeated, green eyes blinking twice as he moved to the side a little and looked over Kokichi’s shoulder to see the screen of the computer, read the messages. “I think he might’ve been in my psychology class when we were freshmen. Second semester. Real quiet.” There was a small pause as Rantaro put a hand gently on his shoulder before pulling away and walking back out of the room. “Anyway, Keech, normally I’d be good with you hanging around my apartment for a while but I actually have to go out and the last time I gave you my keys you forgot to lock the door. So would you be okay with just finishing your coffee and leaving pretty soon? Your computer’s quicker anyway.”

The hacker let out a heavy sigh, the weight of dejection resting against his chest as he got to his feet. That was silly - this was Rantaro’s space, so he needed to respect that and leave. “Yeah, I’ll get going!” he chirped, making himself sound cheerful - putting the mask on. At least he would only have to be all alone in the suppressive silence of his , dusty, overwhelmingly hot apartment, dealing with the slow internet and endless sounds of his creepy neighbors for a few hours before he got to leave and make his way down to the coffee shop where he was meeting Shuichi.

That was something interesting to look forward to. That was new information he could get his grubby little gremlin hands on and study, study, study until there was nothing else to learn and he had to recruit somebody new. As he made his way into Rantaro’s room again to search the floor for his actual clothes - he doubted he could take a cab back to his apartment wearing nothing but one of his friend’s old t-shirts that wore more like a dress than a top - his mind worked on overdrive, wondering what somebody so intelligent would be like, wondering what kind of conversation they would have.

He pulled back on his binder and the loose purple dress that he had been wearing the night before, waved to Rantaro as he walked out of the apartment, and kept on thinking as he left the building and waved down a cab.

All of the thinking in the world could never prepare him for what he would gain from meeting Shuichi Saihara.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi meets Shuichi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's exactly 12am helLO

There were two options when it came to showing up to scheduled appointments or meetups or anything that wasn’t something truly important like a job interview. Either you show up five minutes early, or you arrive five minutes fashionably late. Kokichi preferred the former, unless it was somebody he already knew - the last thing he wanted was to alienate a new acquaintance and make him not want to join the organization when he was already so fascinated, so interested in learning about Shuichi and  _ how _ he figured everything out when he wasn’t a programmer. There were so many problems in his riddles that could only be understood by people who knew decent amounts of code.

He stepped into the coffee shop at 4:55, glanced at his phone screen to make sure he had the address and time right before pocketing it once more and looking up at the cafe. They had decided on where they would sit already to make sure they recognized each other despite not knowing what their faces looked like, and when Kokichi glanced to the back booth Shuichi mentioned he spotted a pale boy in black with neat black hair and golden grey eyes framed by thick dark eyelashes. Kokichi felt his heart skip a beat - this might have been the prettiest boy he had ever seen in his life.

Quickly trying to shove the gay thoughts down into the back of his mind, the hacker stepped quickly over to the booth without taking his eyes off of the boy’s face. Kokichi was trying to measure every feature, commit it to memory so he would be able to recognize his face in a crowd within a heartbeat. “Shuichi Saihara?” he asked, head tilted slightly as he finally reached the booth and stood in front of the table. The boy jolted from the book he was reading, looked up at the hacker and nodded.

“You must be Kichi,” the boy spoke, his voice filled to the brim with anxiety but still sounding more confident than Kokichi felt. He had to commend him for trying, at least. The small hacker nodded in response and offered his hand; Shuichi took it and shook gently, and he then stepped back and sank into the seat across from the dark haired boy, rested his chin on hands crossed together and his elbows on the table. “I, uh… hope you don’t mind coffee shops. I just like to come here and wind down after class, so I figured it might be a good idea to meet up here. A little more relaxed.”

Kokichi waved his hand dismissively, gave Shuichi a grin before he glanced over at the blackboard displaying the cafe’s menu. Maybe he could get some coffee or something; even if this meeting went badly, he could at least have some caffeine to get him through the rest of the day. “Nah, honestly, I didn’t have any standards to begin with. You’d be surprised what kinds of places people have brought me to!” A brief pause. “That’s a lie! I’ve never met up in person with anybody from my organization! Except my friend Rantaro, anyway.” The mask was on, a big grin and false confidence. Hopefully Shuichi couldn’t tell the difference. He leaned a little more forward, grin growing. “So, I’m interested. Why don’t you tell me how you think you can contribute?”

A nervous little laugh left the other boy, pale cheeks lighting up a bright pink. “To… to be honest, I didn’t think I would get this far. I was one of those people who thought that 3301 was just a complex ARG and would end in some video or something commending me for being smart.” He took a sip of the coffee he was sliding between his hands, and the hacker could practically smell the social anxiety coming off of him. “I think I can be of good use, though. I worked at my uncle’s private investigation business for a long time and I always did pretty good work according to our clients. I can do whatever you need that requires investigating. Research, background checks, looking over new recruits…” The anxiety on Shuichi’s face seemed to cool off the more he talked, and Kokichi couldn’t help but watch.

This boy was fascinating, and if his ability to solve Kokichi’s riddles meant anything, he was intelligent. He wanted to know more. He wanted to learn and absorb everything that Shuichi had to offer him, store it into his mind where it could never be lost. He had to hold himself back from wiggling in place as he listened to the detective list off his qualifications, everything he was capable of doing. “You’re in,” Kokichi interrupted him before he could finish talking, pushing himself up from his sitting position and watching the taller boy with glittering violet eyes; he looked as if he was startled by the sudden movement from the small hacker. Kokichi couldn’t quell his energy at the moment, though, so he bounced a little on his heels as he spoke. “We’ll find something to do, but I want you in.”

Shuichi looked bewildered by the smaller boy’s words, though he didn’t get up from his seat across the table. “Why?” was the first word that left him, faded golden eyes staring at Kokichi as the blush reappeared on his face. Before the hacker could answer, though, the detective spoke up again. “I’m honored, I’m just confused, because I don’t think I said anything too impressive.”

A sharp laugh left the hacker before he could hold it back, and that startled look was back on Shuichi’s face. “No, I’m not laughing at you,” the smaller boy assured him, holding his hands up and giving the detective another smile. “I’m just laughing because you’re not sure of yourself. You seem to be very skilled and experienced, and even aside from that, you solved the riddle that leads you to where to contact me. You’re clearly very smart, Shuichi Saihara, and I think that more than qualifies you to become a member of 3301. Congratulations.” A grin on his face, Kokichi took one of the napkins from the case on the table and a pen from his pocket. He scribbled his phone number on the fragile paper and slid it across the table to the detective, barely considering that this was far from his usual behavior.

The taller boy blinked as he looked down at the slip of paper he was handed, clearly confused judging by the look on his face. “Don’t you have a messaging system for your organization? Why are you giving me your phone number?” he asked, eyes wide and a small frown across his lips. Kokichi would have laughed if he couldn’t feel himself getting almost painfully mortified.

“We do. But, uh… the programmer for it is busy today, and I don’t know when he’ll be able to set up your account and stuff for it. So for the moment, it’s going to be easier to reach me by text. The internet at my place suck anyway.” A moment’s pause, and Kokichi’s face heated up once again. “Plus, it’s… more personal. You’re my first member that isn’t a hacker, and I think that alone is cause for me to want to be able to talk to you more often and on a more personal level.”

Shuichi seemed to relax once Kokichi had explained himself, shoulders falling from their tensed position and a small smile reappearing on his face. “This is the first secret global organization I’ve ever been a part of, so I guess I’d like a more personal relationship with my leader.” A nervous laugh left him, and Kokichi watched as the other boy pulled out a thin phone, unlocked it and typed something in - he assumed that his phone number was being saved into a new contact. Kokichi felt himself remember how to breathe as his stunted heart rate returned to normal.  _ Why was he so nervous talking to this boy. _

He chose to chalk it up to just being nervous, because he didn’t know how to deal with somebody who didn’t have the same set of skills as the typical member of his organization. Thinking of it that way was enough to calm him down, though he wasn’t sure if it it was entirely accurate. Kokichi made a very limited amount of continued conversation with Shuichi before making his way to the counter to actually order himself a snack and a cup of coffee. He could already predict that they would be here a while.

It was hours before he parted ways with Shuichi, giving him a friendly goodbye before walking out of the cafe with his hands in his pockets. Kokichi had been nervous about walking home by himself the first year or so that he lived in the city, but had become significantly less so as time went on and he became more accustomed to the routine of waving down a cab, climbing inside, letting the driver take him home or to somebody else’s house so he could collapse and sleep.

He didn’t have much of a plan for that night, so he chose to get back to his much dreaded apartment. As much as he hated being there overnight, he had to admit that it felt significantly more private and safe than sleeping on whoever’s couch - even more than staying the night at Rantaro’s. The cab dropped him off down the sidewalk from his apartment building, and he whistled to himself as he walked, taking one of the hair ties he kept around his wrist and tying his hair back partially for the sake of giving his hands something to do and partially to keep it out of his face.

The thought that he should get a haircut passed through his mind, but he pushed it down rather quickly. He couldn’t do that - the idea of anyone but himself bringing a sharp razor or scissors anywhere near his neck or head was enough to make him shiver. His hair wasn’t even that much of a problem to begin with - he knew that some others had issues with dysphoria if their hair was too long, but he wasn’t among them. He rarely got dysphoria at all, actually - only when somebody else referred to him as a girl.

He put effort into passing for the sake of other people, deepened his voice and wore a binder and loose clothes and acted a little bit less like his twinkish self than he did when he was alone with someone he trusted. Kokichi thought about the times he had acted a little more feminine when he was around Shuichi, and his jaw clenched. What if the detective was the type of person that thought he was a girl just because his biology matched up with what society thought was female?

No, he hadn’t misgendered him, not once. Kokichi was so wrapped up in his thoughts and anxiety that he hadn’t even noticed that he made his way into the apartment building and up the stairs to the door marked  **301** . He let out a soft sigh, dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door with a shaking hand. As soon as the single open room of the studio apartment came into view, the thought to open his laptop and work on anything relating to 3301 that he could think of, but… he remembered that he had a long shift coming up the next day, and grit his teeth. It was only eight in the evening, but he was exhausted, and all he wanted to do was sleep - so that was exactly what he did.

Scolding himself for feeling anxious the whole way, Kokichi stumbled his way over to his bed, pulling off his clothes on the way. He collapsed into the covers, the most expensive thing in the entire place besides his laptop, in only his boxers, letting out a heavy sigh and a soft groan as he closed his eyes and let sleep take him captive mercily easily. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hm, i seem to have a habit of ending chapters with a character falling asleep


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or; Kokichi Ouma is a gay mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> channeling my own college campus here a little, important offices are always in the basements for some goddamn reason? i think the school officials are vampires

The second time Kokichi met Shuichi Saihara in person, it was unplanned.

He had originally intended to visit the college Rantaro attended, drop off an assignment that his friend left behind when in a rush to leave that morning and maybe step into the admissions office to discuss the option of going back to school and getting a degree in programming or politics or something that would help his organization while also giving him the ability to earn a little more money. He didn’t expect to step into the basement of the building where the office was located and find himself face to face with the very detective he met in person two days before. He was startled enough that he very nearly dropped his cell phone, but he was quick in grinning and acting like he hadn’t been surprised.

“Well, if it isn’t Shuichi!” he chirped, smiling brightly at the other boy as his head tilted. “You didn’t tell me that you were going to be on this campus today!” The more logical and reasonable part of his brain scolded him, telling him that was stupid to say, that Shuichi didn’t have to give him much of any personal details he didn’t want to give. Kokichi hated himself a little more every time he spoke to somebody in person and royally fucked it up like this.

“You didn’t tell me you were ever going to be on campus at all,” Shuichi responded, his cheeks a little pink and his voice a little awkward. “I thought you weren’t a student here. You told me you dropped out.” The blush on his cheeks got even darker, and Kokichi was relieved for a moment that he wasn’t the only ungodly awkward one here. “Ah, sorry. Sorry. That was kinda stupid of me to bring up, sorry.”

“Stop apologizing so much.” Kokichi’s voice didn’t come off as heated or scolding, or at least he hoped that it didn’t. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re right. I did tell you I dropped out.” That made him sound stupid, though, didn’t it? Did dropping out of college make him seem stupid? He knew that he wasn’t, and since he was the founder and supreme leader of a global organization of intelligent hackers, but he couldn’t help but still be worried. “That’s a lie, though! I actually have really good grades and I’m majoring in political science!” What the fuck. What the fuck, that was a lie that would probably be seen through easily. Frustration at himself filled his entire being.

Shuichi’s expression sure didn’t suggest any sort of belief, eyes of faded gold narrowing at the hacker before his face went back to neutral. Kokichi’s first instinct was to make a run for it and sprint all the way back to Rantaro’s apartment before this conversation could go anywhere worse. “Whatever you say, Kokichi,” the detective spoke dryly, and began to walk past him; the hacker instinctively followed after him like a lost puppy. “What are you really doing on campus? And don’t lie this time.”

“Lie? I would never!”

An unamused glance aimed at the hacker, and he relented easily.

“My friend - Rantaro, the one I told you about, he made the messaging system - needed me to come drop off an assignment he forgot, and I decided I might as well swing by the admissions office and see if there’s a way for me to pick up where I left off and go back to school.” He shrugged. “This may come as a surprise to you, but I’m having trouble supporting myself and the organization, so I figured I might as well try and get back into college. I dropped out because I didn’t like the mental pressure.”

“Makes sense to me,” Shuichi replied, and Kokichi followed him up the stairs of the building. He figured he might as well walk him to class; he didn’t have to work a shift today, so he didn’t have much else to do. “What do you mean you’re having trouble supporting yourself, though? Doesn’t the organization make you money? You have some of the most talented hackers in the world working with you, it doesn’t make sense you wouldn’t take at least a little from bank accounts.”

“3301 was created to seek out knowledge and power, not to make money. Did you not pay attention to that part of the recruitment process?” He was only about half joking. The integrity of his organization was important to him, and he wasn’t very happy about the other boy even thinking he would use his organization to steal money. “I don’t make my members pay me. If they want to donate something, that’s up to them. I care more about my organization having integrity and being for a noble cause than I care about my own wealth.” A small pause. “I’m a cashier at a fast food place a block away from my own apartment. It’s the most miserable job anyone could have, I think.”

Shuichi let out a laugh, and Kokichi bristled, frustrated. “Sorry, sorry, I don’t mean to laugh,” the detective apologized almost immediately. “I just find it funny that the person behind one of the biggest mysteries on the Internet in recent years works at a fast food place. I wonder how many people have been fascinated by 3301 and come in to buy food from you without even knowing.”

It didn’t escape Kokichi the way Shuichi’s face lit up whenever he talked about any mystery at all, let alone the one Kokichi himself caused. It also didn’t escape him the way his chest swelled and cheeks began to warm slightly when he saw the excited smile across the detective’s lips. He quickly pushed that down, and instead blurted out the first thing he could think of. “Yeah, well, that’s the point! Nobody expects a suuuuper impressive and smart hacker like me to be behind the counter at an entry level job!” A big smile was on his face, and even he wasn’t sure if it was faked or not at this point.

He and Shuichi made a bit more conversation, the small hacker trailing after the other boy to another building on campus before the detective finally turned around and gave him a gentle smile that made his heart inexplicably skip a beat. “Well, I have to get to my next class now. I’ll text you when I get out, and maybe we can figure out a good time to talk more about the organization?” Either Kokichi detected a bit of hopefulness in his tone, or it was just wishful thinking. Knowing himself, it was probably the latter, but he nodded in agreement nonetheless as Shuichi disappeared into the building.

Kokichi backed up against the building and groaned, covering his face in his hands and sliding down to sit on the hard cement of the sidewalk. He couldn’t believe how awkward he was; he was supposed to be good with people, why was he struggling so much with Shuichi Saihara?

* * *

 

“... and then I lied right to his face and told him that I was at the top of my class. Why did I do that? Why am I so weird around him?”

Kokichi laid on Rantaro’s bed, gesturing with his hands and still very much naked. His friend with benefits had been listening for the entire time he was talking, which Kokichi figured he deserved a reward for considering it was hardly pillow talk. There was a part of him that wondered whether or not Rantaro found it weird, listening to him ramble about another guy, but the student didn’t seem to be too bothered, relaxing against the headboard with his hands behind his head. “That would be because you’re gay, Kokichi,” Rantaro spoke in a dry and relaxed voice, as if he was commenting on something painfully obvious like the weather. Kokichi was mortified within moments.

  
“That doesn’t have anything to do with it!” he snapped as he rolled off the bed, folded his binder neatly to put it off to the side as he pulled on the loose lavender dress he’d been wearing for most of the day and the boxers that Rantaro so loved to make fun of. “I may be gay, but that doesn’t mean I’m into every boy I meet, gosh! You should know that better than anyone!” His face was bright red, though, and that probably gave him away. He was more than aware that he was attracted to Shuichi, and trying to act like he wasn’t probably wouldn’t get him anywhere, but…

But he knew that Shuichi almost definitely didn’t return the sentiment, so there was absolutely no point in acting like he was going to. There was no point in lingering on feelings that wouldn’t go anywhere, especially when they were for an important asset to his organization. “No, maybe not, though half the time I’m convinced you’ll drop your pants for any guy that so much as looks at you.” His tone was clearly joking, but he was… kind of right, so Kokichi wasn’t about to get offended. “But you are pretty clearly into this Shuichi guy. Are you clueless enough that you can’t tell?”

“I am _not_ into Shuichi!” Kokichi snapped, his voice harsh and defensive as he crossed his arms over his chest and stomped his foot on the ground; the carpeting muffled it, which only served to frustrate him. “I think you’re just reading into this too much! God, Rant, I can’t believe you!”

“Then why were you talking so much about him literally right after fucking?” Kokichi’s blush darkened again, and Rantaro chuckled softly. “You’ve got it bad, Kichi.”

Instead of deciding to argue with his friend, the small hacker turned on his heel and walked quickly out of the room, hearing Rantaro laugh behind him. He had half a mind to just leave the apartment and go back to his own, but a glance at the clock told him that it was about one in the morning, and that was probably not a good idea. Not only was walking back home this late at night in the big city dangerous, he had at least three people that would probably murder him for even thinking about it.

He collapsed onto the plush couch and held up his phone, scrolled through social media notifications. Checking on anything regarding 3301 would be dangerous without being on a computer he trusted, and would probably lead to a good chunk of his members being tracked down and arrested, so he opted for just doing normal person things for once in his life. Glanced at the news, opened up a fanfiction for a show he didn’t even watch with the intent to waste his time and read it until he passed out. He was a little startled when the phone suddenly vibrated in his hand, and looked quickly to the notification.

A text from Shuichi. He had to hold himself back from letting out a strangled squeal.

 **_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _Hey, sorry for texting you so late, you can get back to me in the morning._

 **_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _Sorry if I seemed like I was brushing you off on campus today, I just wasn’t expecting to see you so I think I might have been a little awkward?_

 **_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _Anyway I was wondering if you wanted to meet up in about a week. I’m supposed to take a trip to Japan to visit my uncle so I won’t be in town for a little while._

His hand was shaking a little as he let out a sigh and typed out a reply.

 **_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _yea!!!!!! i’ll be around!!!!_

 **_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _and it’s ok u weren’t the only one acting a little awkward_

 **_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _where n when did u want to meet?_

 **_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _Same cafe as the first time, same time, next Friday?_

The reply came so quickly that Kokichi was a little startled, but he wiggled slightly on the couch as a small smile appeared on his face.

 **_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _sounds perfect, i’ll see u then_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note: rantaro isn't slut shaming kokichi, the two of them have been friends for a long time so keech is 100% okay with rant making fun of him for his hypersexuality


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi tries to hire a deep web hitman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is totally not based on an inside joke w my best friend, the maki to my kokichi,

Kokichi had too much to drink.

He was vaguely aware of that as he stumbled back into his apartment, made his way over to his computer and logged onto his VPN. The world was swimming around him, and he was barely aware of what he was doing; just scrolling through everything he could find, exploring parts of the deep web he’d always been a little hesitant to touch. It wasn’t very long before he found himself on a website advertising a hitman that would come and kill whoever you asked them too. He blinked thoughtfully, and it didn’t take him very long for a plan to formulate in his mind.

He dropped $1,000 from his debit card into the website.

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ pls come kill me _

He stared at the website, not really sure what he was expecting, but when nothing changed for a few minutes he didn’t really think before dropping more money. Kokichi figured that if he was going to die pretty soon anyway it didn’t matter if he was spending money he didn’t have. What was the bank going to do when his account was overcharged and he wasn’t there to sort it out and pay fees? Dig up his corpse and double kill him? He giggled a little bit at the thought. $500.

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ please im begging please put me out of my misery i will give you anything _

This turned into a routine. Every few minutes he would try putting down more money, leave another pleading message. By the time the clock hit three in the morning, he had dropped upwards of five thousand dollars trying to beg a deep web hitman to come and kill him. His eyelids were beginning to droop and he could feel himself starting to sober up, a pulsing headache beginning to form, so he scooted back away from his computer desk and stumbled over to his bed. The only comfortable thing in the apartment, and therefore his second favorite after only his computer.

He was asleep before his head hit the pillow, and had already forgotten about his little adventure trying to get himself assassinated by the time he was out. If he was being honest, he probably needed to stop going on his computer and looking at the deep web when he was drunk, but in his mind he was going to be dead by morning, so it didn’t matter all that much to him.

* * *

 

The grating sound of a default ringtone filled Kokichi’s head, pulsed around in his skull and made everything hurt even worse. He groaned, put his pillow over his head and forced himself to try and breathe through the nausea that was filling his entire body. He was sure that this was probably the worst hangover he’d ever lived through, and Kokichi just wanted to go back to sleep and snooze it off and forget that anyone had tried to call him. He managed to drift back off to sleep, gentle snores leaving him for a minute or so before his phone started going off again and he was ripped back into awareness.

This time, he pushed his pillow off of his face and groaned when sunlight violated his eyesight. Kokichi honestly felt like he was going to cry between the headache and nausea, but he forced himself to sit up despite his dizziness anyway and reached for his phone. Why was it even on? His phone was always on vibrate. Never on ringer. He unlocked the phone, blinked at the overwhelming brightness of the display and saw an unnamed number displayed. Huh. Who would be trying to call him that he didn’t already know? He had pulled a million strings to have his number hidden from telemarketers.

He answered the phone, grunted out a small greeting, and flinched when he heard a girl’s voice on the other end. His head was pulsing so badly that he didn’t even notice at first that she was speaking in Japanese, not English - the only people who ever talked to him in his native language were those who also came from Japan; Rantaro, Shuichi, his twin sister.”Do you want your money back?” she asked in a dry and flat tone, and for several moments he had no idea what she was talking about.

He was vaguely aware that he had been drunk the night before, and Kokichi spent several moments with his brows furrowed trying to remember what exactly he had been up to. Luckily, though, it all clicked together within a somewhat reasonable amount of time, and a vague sense of disappointment filled him. “So you’re not going to kill me?” he asked, aware that it probably sounded ridiculous that he was bummed about not dying, but he didn’t especially care. “I thought I sent you enough?”

“You sent me three times my fee. And twenty messages begging me to come kill you.” She sounded more bored than anything else, and Kokichi leaned back against the headboard of his bed. “It wasn’t hard to figure out that you were drunk. If I took every request sent to me by some drunk person, do you know how many wives with shitty husbands I would have killed by now? It says in the policy on the website that I don’t accept requests from drunk people and I don’t accept requests to kill the person sending me the money. I don’t exist to assist suicides.”

Kokichi pouted, and was halfway tempted to just hang up the phone to show this deep web assassin who’s boss, but he decided against it. “Yeah, send the money back. It was kind of more than was in my bank account, anyway.” He realized he would have to pay a fee, and grimaced. “If I ask you to kill me now that I’m sober would you do it? You can just use the money I sent you last night. Consider the rest of the money my apology for bothering you twice.” He thought that was reasonable enough.

“Why are you taking a business approach to your own death?” the girl shot back, and Kokichi blinked twice. There were people he expected to fight him when he was asking to die - a deep web hitman that he sent a lot of money to do so wasn’t among them. He thought about the idea that a murderer could have some kind of ideals, and almost laughed out loud just considering it. He was disgusted by the idea of murder, thinking of it as the worst thing anyone could do. He wasn’t sure why he wanted someone like that to kill him, if he was being honest. “I get being depressed, but good god.”

“Because I’m the leader of a super secret evil organization, and I take everything in a business way!” Kokichi let out a sharp ‘nishishi,’ though he quickly took a more serious tone. “Honestly, though, yeah, send the money back.”

A killer with some standards. Kokichi clicked his tongue thoughtfully, tapped on his blanketed legs as he looked up at his ceiling. Maybe she could do something good for his organization. Be useful, even if not always in terms of just murdering someone. “Hey, quick question,” he chirped, sitting up a little straighter as he spoke in a more cheerful tone. “How would you like a hobby?”

“I have hobbies,” the girl on the other end of the phone responded dryly, and there was a brief pause, Kokichi refusing to say something else until she gave him the answer he wanted. “You have my attention, though. What kind of hobby are you talking about?” He wiggled excitedly, a grin appearing on his face, and he was suddenly glad that this was a verbal conversation over the phone instead of one happening face to face. “It better not be something stupid.”

“I was just wondering if you’d be willing to join my organization!” He adopted the tone he usually did when speaking to strangers about 3301 - cheerful, charismatic, more than ready to answer any questions they had to ask. “We mostly do a lot of stuff related to computers, but that’s not everything that goes on! We want to expand to doing things in person, too.” He paused for a moment, grin widening a little. “Maybe you’ve heard of us? It’s called 3301. I’m told it’s a pretty big deal on the Internet.” He’d witnessed a lot of the commotion on various forums himself, after all.

The pause on the other end of the phone was much longer than usual, and when the girl on the other end finally responded, she sounded exhausted and completely done with this conversation. “Not a chance.” The line went dead then as she hung up, and Kokichi blinked as he took the phone from his ear and stared at it for just a moment. Quietly, he tapped the number that he had just gotten a call from and saved it under the name  _ Deep Web Hitwoman. _ He would need it later, when he decided to reach out for her again and ask more about getting her to join his organization.

There was no way he was going to let her go that easily.

* * *

 

Kokichi kept to himself for the majority of the day, drinking water and watching Netflix and working on coding for a program he was trying to develop that would make it easier to hack into complicated systems. He was trying to relax and recover from his hangover, and for the most part nobody really bothered him. Nobody got concerned unless he didn’t speak up and try to be irritating for a few days; he was good at taking care of himself, after all.

He was a little surprised, then, when his phone chimed. Kokichi hadn’t been expecting anyone to reach out to him, but he couldn’t say he wasn’t happy about getting a little attention, especially when he checked the screen before unlocking it and finding the contact name for the one and only Shuichi Saihara popped up. The small hacker wasted no time in unlocking the device and quickly reading over the text.

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ Hey, usually I run into you somewhere by now. Are you feeling okay? _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ That was a joke, btw. _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ Just wanted to text you and see how you’re doing. _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ And double check on our plans for Friday. _

He was more than a little surprised that the other boy had not double, not triple, but quadruple texted him, and he couldn’t ignore the way that his heart was racing. Shuichi was reaching out to him, for the second time in a few days, and the more he tried to pretend that he wasn’t pining over the detective the redder his face got. He couldn’t deny it much longer, but he would try.

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ awww, my beloved shuichi is wooooorrieeeeeed! :p _

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ im good. today is my day off so ive been hangin out. _

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ friday at 5 at the cafe right? still good 4 me. i work that day but i’ll be out a couple of hours before. u’ll just have to deal w me smelling like burgers. _

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ how’s ur trip going? _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ It’s going well. The time difference is hard to get used to again, though. I woke up thinking it was midnight and looked out the window to find sunlight. _

Kokichi couldn’t help but feel a little bit jealous. He hadn’t even left New York, let alone the country, since he was too young to remember and had been brought here by his parents. Six months before his father died and his mother couldn’t keep providing for both him and his sister and left him with an orphanage.

Thinking about it made him feel sick. His childhood hadn’t been the best, and remembering it was painful. So he shoved those thoughts down and quickly responded.

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ lol, i bet _

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ its getting p late over here tho _

By late, he meant eleven at night. Hours before he usually went to bed. But exhaustion was climbing up on him fast.

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ im gonna call it a night _

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ goodniiiight shuichi _

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ Goodnight, Kokichi. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to do this like a week ago but i got slammed by finding out i was behind in my algebra class AND trying to study for a history midterm ooPS

Kokichi had been unable to contain his excitement as the days passed by and the time when he would be able to see Shuichi drew nearer. He couldn’t wait to meet the detective once more, and although he hadn’t known him for very long even just going a week without seeing him in person felt a bit like torture. It helped, at least a little, that the two of them had been texting more often as Shuichi’s trip to Japan dragged on; Kokichi really felt like he was becoming close friends with the other boy, getting to know him in a way that others didn’t often get the opportunity to. He felt… honored.

There was a part of him that liked that Shuichi was on the trip, though, and that part of him was fueled in part by the fact that he could only feel so many butterflies in his stomach when he was looking at words typed on a screen in the span of a few seconds. The rest of it was fueled by Shuichi sending him a lot of scenic pictures of their home country. Kokichi may or may not have let it slip that he couldn’t actually remember Japan, as he hadn’t been there since his parents brought him over when he was a baby, and the ever considerate detective seemed determined to at least make sure he was able to visually experience at least a little bit of the country he was born in.

**_Shuichi Saihara:_ ** _ I’ll take you in person someday. _

He hadn’t responded to that text, his face overheating and the butterflies in his stomach making him feel like he was going to vomit and the thumping in his chest making him feel like his heart was getting ready to tear out of his ribcage and kill him instantly. Not that he would really argue with that outcome. Death was a welcome alternative for pining over someone he didn’t think could ever like him back, at least not in a romantic way.

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ are u sure u wont kill me _

**_Deep Web Hitwoman:_ ** _ i’m not a suicide weapon. _

**_Deep Web Hitwoman:_ ** _ please stop texting me. _

**_Kokichi Ouma:_ ** _ never _

He sighed, rubbed his temples to try and soothe the headache that was beginning to form. Feelings were hard. Feelings were absolutely miserable. He wished he didn’t have to deal with them; he wished he could just be the emotionless, ruthless, mischievous supreme leader that he was outside on the inside as well. There was no point in thinking about that, though, because when he glanced at the time on his phone he realized that Shuichi was supposed to be landing back in the United States the next day.

Shit. All that time looking forward to the boy he totally, absolutely did  _ not _ have a crush on returning, and he forgot to try and figure out how to deal with his totally not existent feelings. A feeling of dread began to well up in his chest; he didn’t want to see Shuichi in person for the first time in a while and act weird, drive him off and make it so that they couldn’t even be friends.

He needed to distract himself. Kokichi clicked his tongue as he opened up his coding software, uploaded the program he’d been working on to try and make hacking into restricted websites easier and quicker; he wanted 3301 to be able to someday rule the world, know everything they could get their hands on through a computer, but that meant needing to sneak around government websites and servers undetected. That was something a majority of his hackers couldn’t do, despite the fact that he had tried to hire only the best of the best. 

Kokichi worked well into the night, not even stopping when his eyelids got heavy and he could feel the faint burn of exhaustion in his head and his very being. Letters and numbers began to blur together as he worked, worked, kept on working even as the clock ticked into the wee hours of the morning. He didn’t even notice when he fell asleep; to him, it just felt like he was blinking, and when he finished the blink his apartment was flooded with light and he was covered in a light sheen of sweat.

He furrowed his brows and yawned, tried to stretch and winced when it hurt to take a deep breath in and he realized that he had spent the night without taking off his binder. He would need to go without it for the day, he would need to see Shuichi without it… he wasn’t sure if he had any clean baggy clothes, so he was pretty sure that the curve of his chest would be clearly visible to the other boy. He couldn’t help but wonder whether or not Shuichi would judge him for it…

Kokichi shook his head, brushed his hair out of his face with his free time and wasted no time in pulling his shirt off and removing his binder. He was in the privacy of his own home, he wasn’t disgusted by his body if he alone saw it, so he didn’t have a problem in just changing in his living room. He wasn’t sure if the sweat had come from overnight heat or his binder or anything else, but either way, he needed a shower now. He glanced at the time on his computer, saw that it was two in the afternoon, and rushed back to his bathroom in order to do exactly that.

He only had three hours to get to the cafe where he and Shuichi had planned to meet - and it was the same place they’d met up the other times it was planned. It was almost becoming  _ their _ spot, and that thought alone was enough to make Kokichi’s heart skipped a beat and began to swell. He didn’t even bother scolding himself for pining over Shuichi again; he was starting to realize that there wasn’t really much that he could do about it. He would just have to hope it’d wear out soon enough.

It took a lot of panic and trying to calm himself down, but he made it to the cafe fifteen minutes early anyway. Kokichi sat in the usual booth, folding his hands in front of him and letting out a slow sigh. He didn’t have an awful lot of faith in himself when it came to chilling out and being calm and rational, but he could at least act like that was what he was doing. Lying came easy to him after years of doing it just to survive; lies to put food in his belly, lies to get attention or pity, lies to be kind to people. It all blended into each other for him.

Shuichi arrived at the cafe ten minutes after Kokichi, and either the hacker was hallucinating or the detective’s face lit up upon seeing him. The other boy made his way over to the booth, shrugged his backpack off to toss it on the seat before sitting across from Kokichi. “Hey,” Shuichi spoke, sounding breathless as he smiled to the hacker; had he run here from wherever the bus let him off? “Have you been waiting for me too long? Sorry, class let out too late for me to catch the earlier bus and…”

“No need to be sorry!” Kokichi chirped, grinning as he held his chin up high. “I got here early anyway! The wait was absolute  _ torture, _ though! So much time without my beloved Shumai and he shows up five minutes early instead of ten? I was pretty sure that you were going to stand me up!” He pouted, eyes filling with fake tears as he crossed his arms over his chest and slumped against the seat of the booth.

The detective didn’t fall for it, though, giving a faint roll of his eyes that didn’t have any heat behind it considering the small smile across his face. “Don’t be so dramatic,” Shuichi responded, though he sounded more amused than anything else. “So, how have your week been?” he asked, folding his hands in his lap. For a moment, Kokichi realized that it really had felt like a long time since he saw Shuichi in person. They hadn’t even known each other for that long; how did he become that attached to someone in such a short amount of time? It had taken him a year to even trust Rantaro enough to let him know how he was actually feeling half the time.

“Pretty boring!” Kokichi responded, voice as cheery as ever despite the harsh beating of his heart and the overactive nature of his mind. “I just kinda sat inside and worked on my computer the whole time. That’s what I usually do anyway, so it’s not like I stepped outside my comfortt zone.” He leaned across the table, the faintest traces of mischief in his smirk. “It’s not like I went  _ all the way across the ocean _ like some people. Come on, Shumai, stop blue balling me by asking questions about my boring little existence and tell me a little bit about your trip!”

A blush appeared across the detective’s pale features, an awkward little laugh pushing past his throat. “Is it bad for me to want to know a little more about what my friend does?” Friend? Kokichi wasn’t sure if he was thrilled that the other boy thought of him as a friend or sad that it was all he would ever be. He settled for the former. “Honestly, it wasn’t too interesting. I just kinda hung out with my uncle, went back to what my daily routine was before I came here. I did get to hang out with my friends Maki and Kaito again, though, which was pretty nice. We worked out like we used to.”

Kokichi stuck out his tongue, though it was more in a teasing manner than a malicious one. “Man, you went all the way to Japan and all you did was get all sweaty? You’re a really boring traveller, Shumai.” He hoped that the insult wouldn’t be taken seriously. “I liked the pictures you sent me, though. You might have gone and had your same sad, boring existence, but at least you saw some pretty stuff.” He had to bite down the urge to call Shuichi pretty, not wanting to creep the detective out.

“Says the one who spends his whole life in front of the computer,” Shuichi shot right back, and Kokichi couldn’t help but think about the anxious boy he had been the first time they met. He was glad that Shuichi was comfortable with him despite not knowing each other for very long; he was glad that he wasn’t the only one rapidly developing something from their friendship unusually quickly - even if the natures of these developments were vastly different.

Just being comfortable talking to someone was leaps and bounds from actually being romantically attracted to them, though. Maybe Shuichi was just a more trusting person than he was who got attached more easily; maybe Kokichi was just overthinking things. That wouldn’t be the first time that happened. Before he could really start thinking to the point of no return, though, the detective suddenly spoke up again, sounding more than a little excitable this time. “Oh! By the way! You’re one of my only two friends in New York right now, and Kaito and Maki mentioned wanting to come to the States to visit me and go to Washington to check out NASA for Kaito, so I was wondering if you wanted to meet them. I don’t know for sure when they’re visiting, but…”

“I would love to!” Kokichi responded, his voice quick as he interrupted the other boy’s rambling. Part of him was afraid to meet other people, not sure whether or not Shuichi’s other friends would like him or approve of him, but most of him just kind of wanted to make the detective happy. And judging by the smile on his face, he  _ was _ happy.

The hacker’s heart skipped a beat, and he barely thought to be frustrated with himself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi and Kokichi walk home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know that gif of kermit typing all goofily? that's me the last few days

Shuichi had insisted on walking Kokichi home from the cafe at around six in the evening, and the small leader was more than happy to go along with it as long as the other boy got a ride back to his own apartment. The hacker was well aware that the poorer neighborhood he lived in was more dangerous than others, and honestly considered it a miracle that he hadn’t been attacked yet given how much of a lone wolf he usually was; he knew that he had street smarts, he knew his way around the roughest of people thanks to his upbringing in a poorly run orphanage. The detective, however, gave the impression of someone much softer, and Kokichi didn’t want him getting hurt.

The small leader shivered from the chill as he stepped outside, wrinkled his nose as he walked next to Shuichi. “Man, I guess winter is coming,” he complained, unconsciously moving a little bit closer to the detective as they walked together. “I really need to move down somewhere warmer, the cold is so miserable to deal with. Almost as miserable as hanging out with you.” He wrinkled his nose, glanced over out of the corner of his eye just in time to catch the other boy giving him an offended look. “That’s a lie! I have the most fun of my fun when I’m hanging out with my beloved Shuichi!”

He noticed a blush appear across the detective’s pale face as they walked together, and a small giggle escaped him. “I’ve never really minded the winter,” Shuichi responded with a small shrug. “I’ve always thought that the snow was kind of pretty, and whenever my parents were around to take care of me they would have me go outside and ‘play like a normal kid’ whenever it was warm out.” His brows furrowed. “I’ve never really been the biggest fan of spending a lot of time outside.”

“Damn, can you be any more of an emo?” Kokichi asked, his tone joking as he moved to lean against Shuichi a bit as they walked. Either he was imagining things or the blush on the detective’s face deepened even further. “I bet you’re one of those people who listens to My Chemical Romance and Evanescence whenever it’s raining out so you can look out the window and imagine the whole world in black and white, right? And you probably write bad poetry on your Tumblr blog in your spare time and post a bunch of grunge edits of iCarly or whatever brainless sitcom you choose.”

He was a little surprised to hear a soft laugh come from the detective, and Kokichi felt a little proud of himself as he puffed out his chest and got a little more confident in his stride. “Well, I actually do listen to MCR. But I don’t post bad emo poetry anywhere. I prefer to read old detective novels in the middle of the night, so I guess I’m more of a hipster than an emo.” His tone had gained a little bit of a joking lilt, and the small supreme leader was absolutely delighted.

“Wow, you do have a sense of humor! I was afraid I’d never see it!” Kokichi giggled as he bounced forward, continuing on his way down the street so that he was walking ever so slightly ahead of Shuichi. “Honestly, though, hipsters are just emos with fancy glasses. The whole ‘don’t like cool things’ stuff is basically the crap with emos talking shit about people they call normies.” He turned a little so that he was facing the other boy, a mischievous grin taking up most of his features.

The other boy rolled his eyes, though the smile didn’t disappear from his face. “Are you really doing a psychoanalysis of everyone who identifies with the term ‘hipster?’” Shuichi asked, his voice unmistakably amused as he put his hands in his pockets. “I think twelve year old Shuichi would call all hipsters the worst kinds of normies, but you can think whatever you want, I guess.” The detective walked a little faster in order to catch up with Kokichi, and the smaller of the two linked their arms together. For a moment, he was afraid that the other boy would pull away, but he just went with it.

The conversation faded out, and the walk continued in a relatively comfortable silence, which Kokichi was more than a little pleased with. He was trying to keep the affection building and building for Shuichi shoved down somewhere it would never be able to show its face, but the longer they knew each other and the more comfortable they got with each other the harder that was. The smaller of the two glanced over at Shuichi, watched the way the detective’s face looked in the fading daylight, and with every moment that passed he could feel his heart rate raising.

He was a little surprised when Shuichi suddenly pulled his arm away, and at first he was worried that ha said something wrong. “Are you wearing a binder?” Shuichi asked, and Kokichi could hear a little bit of awe in his voice - but he wasn’t sure if it was good or bad. “Sorry, I just see something under your shirt and I wasn’t sure if it was a tank top or a binder and… god, I’m awkward, sorry.” The detective’s voice faded out, and when Kokichi looked over he found that his face was bright red.

Okay, it probably wasn’t bad surprise then, if he was getting awkward about it. “Uh, yeah, it is, I’m sorry I didn’t actually tell you.” He blushed, fiddled with the bottom of his shirt as he continued walking; if he stopped, he would probably feel too awkward to continue talking to Shuichi at all. “I’m trans, which basically means that I was designated female at birth but I’ve always seen myself as--”

“No, no, I know what trans is! I… the whole reason I noticed was because I’m actually trans too.” Shuichi lifted his shirt enough that a glimpse of a black binder was visible for a moment before letting it fall back into position. The faintest of laughs left the detective as he moved forward quickly to catch up with Kokichi again. Their arms linked together once again, and Kokichi’s heart swelled.

The walk was quiet for a while again, the hacker knowing his way back to his apartment and more than capable of just walking there on autopilot. He was a little self conscious as the streets grew dirtier and some windows were broken on the apartment buildings. Kokichi knew he lived in a poor part of town; he knew that he might be judged for not working enough and not making enough money to support himself without living in a dirty building with bad air circulation and slow internet.

When he looked over at Shuichi, however, he didn’t see disgust on the other boy’s face; if anything, just a little bit of surprise as he looked around. “I’m glad I decided to walk you home,” Shuichi spoke up, inching a little bit closer to Kokichi. “Do you always walk home alone, or do you usually have someone taking you back? It seems kind of dangerous this way.” He understood the detective’s concern; he didn’t seem to be someone that didn’t want to take a lot of risks. Anxious, shy, someone intelligent who wanted to take the safest steps… the hacker couldn’t help but wonder how it ever crossed his mind that he should join an illegal global organization that could get him into a lot of trouble.

He was glad that he did, though. It hadn’t even been that long, but he couldn’t imagine if Shuichi hadn’t solved the riddles and hadn’t messaged him. Regardless of his emotional attachment and his romantic feelings, Kokichi knew that the detective was a good friend of his, someone he could trust in a world where so few people could be relied on. He was so lost in his thoughts that it took him a moment to remember a question had been asked that he probably needed to answer.

“Actually, most of the time I don’t even sleep in my own apartment. I spend the night over at Rantaro’s enough that I might as well move in.” He led Shuichi down the road where his apartment building was, letting out a small sigh as they approached what must have been the most broken down structure on the block. Kokichi was vaguely aware that these buildings were old - if he remembered right, they were build in the start of the twentieth century, but they had been poorly taken care of and had garnered a reputation amongst residents as somewhere nobody wanted to live. He could only hope that someday he would be good enough to hack into bank accounts, trust funds, whatever he could get his hands on to steal or earn himself a little more. Freelance programming, maybe? Something not connected to the ideals of 3301 that would let him make a little more money than he already was. Something that would let him afford somewhere better to live, maybe even let him quit working in fast food for good.

“I can’t say I blame you,” Shuichi responded, trailing behind Kokichi as he was led inside, through a dusty and dark lobby and up the stairs to one of the upper floors. The hacker dug his keychain out of his pocket, shuffled around with the small amount of keys he carried with him until he found the rusty one labelled with his apartment number - 301 - and unlocked the door.

Kicking the squeaky door open revealed a living room that was sparsely furnished, only a small television and a box meant to act as a kitchen table with his laptop, the most expensive thing he owned, sitting where he left it that morning. “Home sweet home,” Kokichi sighed heavily, walked into the apartment and turned around quickly to gesture dramatically at their surroundings. “The fanciest and most looked after digs in all of the United States! Hello, MTV, and welcome to my crib, and all that!” Kokichi walked over to the completely falling apart couch and fell back, landed in a sprawled position.

Shuichi laughed softly and followed him inside, hands in his pockets as he looked around. “From the way you act, I honestly expected to walk inside and find a big room with pastel walls and royal purple furniture and everything.” Well, he was glad that his larger than life personality was enough to subvert people’s expectations about the way he lived. Even with he struggled with money and struggled to make himself have good enough self esteem last him through a day, even with the most impressive thing he could do was run a hacking organization that couldn’t even make him a living and hadn’t even made its big break into a big corporation or the government… at least he was memorable.

That was all he wanted, he supposed. To never, ever be forgotten. Even if he was going to die alone in a tiny apartment with nothing but the cheapest furniture money could buy, at least he would stick around in the mind of Shuichi Saihara as someone who gave the impression of being larger than life. “Well, personality doesn’t pay the bills, my beloved Shuichi,” the small hacker responded, a mischievous smile appearing across his features. “Maybe I should get a sugar daddy, though. Maybe then I can have the fancy furniture I’ve always known I deserve. Plus a lot of kinky sex.”

A laugh left the detective, and smugness filled up most of his consciousness. “I mean, if that’s the way you wanna go about it, but I don’t think you need a sugar daddy to have kinky sex.” He then pulled out his phone, walked over to sit next to Kokichi on the couch (using the small amount of space that wasn’t occupied by him). “I’m gonna call an Uber, is it okay if I stick around here for a little while?”

Kokichi giggled softly, shifted so that he could flip around and lean against Shuichi. “I would neeeever mind my beloved Shuichi hanging out in my apartment, it would be my honor!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kokichi is. very gay. thank you


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi meets Kaito and Maki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! i'm not dead! ... probably! my ghost might be writing this note. spoooooooky.  
> there were about three months between most of the chapter and the last couple hundred words or so, so please forgive me if it's a bit choppy. i plan on continuing everything i have going, this was just the first one i hit since i had most of the chapter done. thank you for your patience. hopefully the rest will be on a more regular basis once i don't have school beating me from one end and work beating me from the other.

It barely hit Kokichi’s mind that this was the farthest he had gone thus far with anybody he had any romantic interest in. His usual strategy for dealing with crushes was to bang them and then try to forget they existed, leading only to a broken heart but being better for him in the long run, he was sure. He hadn’t even slept with Shuichi yet, and here he was, getting ready to meet friends that he described as like his family. To say he was nervous would be an understatement; this was a level of intimacy he wasn’t completely ready for, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little excited for it. It was something new, something sweet - and sweet was something he had no experience with,  too used to salt and bitterness.

The small boy pulled on his binder and hummed under his breath as he looked through his closet, looking for something he could wear that looked respectable enough to introduce himself to new people but attractive enough to hang out with the boy he liked. He decided on a lavender sweater and a pair of dark grey leggings - he checked himself out in the mirror, was a little impressed by how he looked. The hacker clucked his tongue thoughtfully, used the hair tie around his wrist to tie his hair back. One more glance at his reflection, and he nodded before turning on his heel and walking out of his room.

He was supposed to meet Shuichi at the corner of his street, and it didn’t take him very long to walk there. Kokichi looked around as he walked, ensured that he knew his surroundings as he moved forward. He glanced at his phone screen and found that he was about ten minutes early for their meeting; okay, he would be standing around for a little while, that was fine with him.

Luckily for him, it only took about five minutes for a car to roll up to the corner where he was standing. One of the back doors popped open, and Kokichi could see Shuichi inside, waving for him to come in - so the small leader rushed forward and climbed into the car. “Why, hellooooo, my beloved Shumai!” he chirped happily, a bright smile appearing across his lips as he leaned against Shuichi dramatically, as if this was something totally normal for him. As if everything about this was normal to him, as if he was used to someone besides Rantaro actually wanting him to be a part of their life that they trusted enough to meet their friends and family.

“Hi, Kokichi,” Shuichi responded, sounding like he was about to start laughing, and the hacker couldn’t help but be proud of himself. “These are my friends from back home, Kaito and Maki.” The hacker finally glanced up towards the front seat of the car, almost surprised at himself for taking so long to memorize his surroundings.

One of them, a tall, muscular man that Kokichi assumed was Kaito, turned his head to give the hacker a big, confident smile and a half wave. The first thing that Kokichi noticed about him was his hair, looking like it was about to rip off of his head and make its way up into the afterlife. He wondered how much hairspray it took to get that purple mess into that shape and have it stick that way, and he also wondered why he would ever choose to have it look like that. The goatee on his chin was almost as bad, but he could at least admire the choice to drape a purple jacket adorned with a galaxy print on its inside around his shoulders. “Nice to meet you. I’m Kaito Momota, the Luminary of the Stars, and Shuichi’s my sidekick.”

Oh, great, he was so insufferable that he called his best friend his sidekick. Kokichi wasn’t sure if he was more irritated by that general concept or by the fact that Shuichi was getting swept under a metaphorical rug. Still, he tried to push that down, and forced a smile on his face. If there was one thing he was good at, it was pretending that he was feeling something else. “It’s nice to meet you too,” he responded, trying to be civil for now.

He wanted desperately to show Shuichi he was worthy of his trust and respect, after all. He didn’t want to start pushing to get their feelings miles apart just yet. 

The other person in the front, a girl, was driving - he assumed that was the reason she didn’t acknowledge him. Dark brown hair hung in long twintails down her sides. Kokichi noticed blood red eyes glance up into the rearview mirror, but she said nothing. Maki might not have really made it clear she even knew he existed, and she may have given off a slightly terrifying and violent aura, but… Kokichi couldn’t help but feel a little drawn to her. There was something familiar about her, and the dirty look she gave him was enough to tell him he wasn’t completely imagining things.

“So, where are we going?” Kokichi found it in him to ask after a couple of minutes of sitting through Kaito rambling about how excited he was to be in America and talking about how he wanted to work for NASA one day. He was slightly disappointed in himself for how rusty he was in his native language - he could speak Japanese, he could have conversations with the slow speaking and relaxed Rantaro or with the usually clear spoken Shuichi, but he could not for the life of him keep track of half the sentences that spilled out of Kaito’s mouth.

“The park,” Shuichi responded, leaning against the back of his seat, and it hit Kokichi very suddenly that the other boy had been allowing him to lean against him since they got in the car and had yet to shrug him off or give him a weird look. He was  _ comfortable _ with Kokichi, and that was overwhelming enough for the hacker that he had to sit up straight.

He was vaguely aware that his face had turned bright red, so he made an attempt to keep his front facing away from Shuichi. He may have come to terms with the fact that he had increasingly strong feelings for the detective, but Kokichi wasn’t quite ready to make it obvious to someone whose entire career revolved around solving mysteries and the majority of whose skillset involved finding evidence and studying other people’s behaviors and clues to find an answer. If Shuichi was going to find out about his crush, it would be on Kokichi’s terms. “How come?” he asked, putting effort into keeping his voice stable and his blush facing away from the detective.

“The three of us spent a lot of time at the park together back home,” Kaito responded, finally saying something that Kokichi could understand as he looked back at the two boys in the backseat, leaning into the space between him and Maki and earning himself a smack on the back of the head. The astronaut didn’t seem too affected by it, though, just moved back to where he was beforehand. “Usually working out, but today we’re probably just gonna hang out and go for a walk.”

“You mean me and Maki work out while you lay on the ground and look up at the sky,” Shuichi chirped, although there wasn’t any venom behind his words. Kokichi got the sense it was a habit that the three friends joked about rather than got into genuine fights about. “We’re not going to make you work out though, Kokichi, don’t worry.” A bit of a pink tint appeared across the detective’s cheeks as the supreme leader glanced back at him, and his own blush almost got a little deeper as he realized how cute the other boy looked at the moment.

He noticed Kaito lean a little closer to Maki to mutter something, but he decided not to say anything about it. He just needed to focus on getting himself through this - it had gone from something he was excited but nervous about to something he was dreading. Paranoia had started spreading through his mind about his relationship with Shuichi and whether or not the other boy’s friends would catch onto it and tell him about it. This wasn’t something that Kokichi would usually worry about, he was usually pretty open about his attraction to people, but as he was noticing over and over, this was different. Just like everything else about this relationship, it was new.

Shuichi wasn’t someone he just wanted to play with once and then throw away in order to keep an iron gate around his heart. He wanted this friendship, these romantic feelings, to grow into something more, even if he wasn’t quite aware of how exactly to do that, and he couldn’t help but feel like one person noticing something and pointing it out to Shuichi would break it all apart before he even had the chance to do anything about it.

“We’re here.” Two sharp sounding words from the front seat was enough to break Kokichi about his thoughts of dread and doom, and he snapped his head up to look at Maki, who was opening her car door and slipping out. It didn’t even hit him how familiar her voice sounded until she spoke again. “You’d better still be able to keep up, Saihara.” Her voice carried dry sarcasm, but more importantly, the same tone and pitch of someone he had just heard recently.

But shouting  _ holy shit you’re the deep web hitman that i tried to hire to murder me in my sleep and argued with over the phone _ in front of her two best friends, one of whom was studying criminal justice and had been raised by and worked as an apprentice for his detective uncle, was probably not the best way to go about things. It crossed his mind that she probably recognized his voice first, given how recent it was, but had chosen to keep quiet about it instead of yell the connection at him, so he supposed he could do much the same.

He didn’t especially want Shuichi to know that he was exhausted and depressed enough to try and hire a hit on himself, anyway.

“I’ve never been able to keep up with you,” Shuichi responded, a small and soft laugh escaping him and making Kokichi’s heart melt gently.

For the most part, their time hanging out at the park consisted of Kokichi sitting on a blanket while Shuichi did pushups with his friends, spoke up every now and again when small talk about what America was like and how school and work was going came up, about what Kokichi’s life was like and what his intentions with Shuichi were (“to steal his heart,” was his cheeky reply, and Shuichi had a face the color of a tomato as he tried frantically to convince Kaito they were just friends, that there was nothing deeper going on here).

That conversation ended with Shuichi trying to chase Kaito down while the aspiring astronaut laughed, and Kokichi ended up quietly watching while sucking on a juice box. He sensed rather than heard or saw Maki sit down next to him. The hacker tensed up, turned his head to face the assassin and tried to avoid panicking.

“So do you make all of your friends by dragging them into your little club of hackers or harassing them on the deep web or do you have any actual social skills?” the assassin asked, her voice dry and terrifyingly relaxed as she leaned back on her elbows.

“I don’t beg everybody over the phone to murder me, if that’s what you’re asking!” Kokichi chirped cheerfully, putting his mask right back into place. Something was familiar about this girl; he couldn’t get that thought out of his mind. It poked at him from all directions, bothered him to investigate and figure something out - but he didn’t even know what to look for.

Maki quickly gestured for him to shut up, and he took that to mean Kaito and Shuichi didn’t actually know what she did on the deep web. He understood that. That was his entire reasoning for building a web and reputation around him that made it impossible to tell at any given moment if he was telling the truth or lying.

Neither she nor Kaito knew that yet, though.

“So no social skills, either.” She rolled her eyes, and got to her feet when the both of them noticed Kaito and Shuichi moving towards them. “You’d better not drag Saihara into anything stupid or illegal. You’ll have something worse than death to deal with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what could be a fate worse than death? maki's going to slow kokichi's internet down to a snail's pace. rip rat boy.

**Author's Note:**

> please please please comment if you want me to continue!


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